Electric control circuit



Dec. 12, 1944. PALMER AL 2,364,998

ELECTRIC CONTROL CIRCUIT Filed Aug. 13, 1941 Fig.1.

T EMPERATURE R ESPONSIVE Harry L. Palmer, Elbert D Sc Their Attorney.

maiden Patented pee. 12, 1944 2,364,998

U IT D STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,364,998 ELECTRIC CONTROL CIRCUIT Barry L. Palmer, Schenectady, and Elbert D.

Schneider, Scotia, N. Y., assisnors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York r Application August 13, 1941, Serial No. 403,598 9 Claims. (01. 250-27) .Our invention relates to electric control cir- 01' a cycle thereof and the period during which cults, and more particularly to electric control t e valve means are non-conductive extends from ance welder. voltage corresponding to a given condition of the It is an object of our invention to provide a 10 load circuit or device the electric valve means will new and improved electric control circuit be rendered conductive at the same time in each energy supplied to a loadin accordance with a toothed voltage wave at which the main valves vides close regulation of a condition of the load rated current periodically when the energy rewhichitis desiredtomaintain. quired by the load is less than the continuous It is a still further object of our invention to full load rating of the electric valves. It is also provide a new and improved control circuit for seen that the periods of on and on are established valve means in which variable amounts of power eration according to which the time that the valve means. required duration to provide thi result and it is In accordance with an illustrated embodiment not necessary that the temperature or other conment-of an electric fumace. The electric valve given temperature or load condition and vary determined number of cycles- 01' the alternating nection with the accompanying drawing, and its current supply circuit by a control circuit which scope will be pointed out in the appended claims. includes means for epar xiucing. a substantially In the drawing. Fig. 1 is a schematic representatoothed wave of control voltage which varies in circuit of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a modification 01' a porthe critical voltage of a control electric valve asthe modification of Fig. 3. sociated with the main valve, the main valve is In Fig. 1 we have shown our invention emrendered conductive and in this way the time in bodied in a circuit for transmitting controlled means are rendered non-conductive when the particular embodiment illustrated, is the resistsaw-toothed voltage reduces suddenly at the end ance element H of an electric furnace II. The

circuit between the supply and load circuits is completed through a pair of reversely connected main electric discharge valves I8 and H which are preferably of the type employing an ionizable medium such as a gas or vapor and, as illustrated, may comprise an anode ii, a pool of conducting liquid forming a cathode l6, and an immersion igniter type control member l1. LAS is well understood by those skilled in the art, when electric valve means of this character are reversely con- 10' nected with respect to an alternating current supply circuit or, as sometimes stated, are connected in anti-parallel relation, they are effective to transmit alternating current to the load circuit.

In accordance with the present invention an improved control circuit is provided for controlling the current transmitted by the electric valve means by varying the number of half cycles of the alternating current circuit during which the valve means l3 and I4 are conductive and nonconductive rather than by controlling the portion of the half wave of the alternating current supply voltage during which the valves are conductive. As is well understood by those skilled 5 in the art, the electric valve means may be rendered conductive when the anodes thereof are positive with respect to the cathodes by the passage of a predetermined minimum current through the immersion igniter control mem- 3o ber l1. The current through the control member I1 is controlled by the firing valves 18 and 18 which are preferably of the type employing an ionizable medium and each comprises an anode 20, a filamentary type cathode 2|, a control member or grid 22, and a shield grid 28. As illustrated in the drawing, the firing valves l8 and I8 each has its anode connected with the anode of the main electric valve means with which it is associated through a suitable resistor 24. The cathode of each of the valves it I9 is connected to the immersion igniter trol member of the electric valve with which it is associated. In accordance with our invention we provide a new and improved control circuit for controlling the energization of the control members 22 of the firing valves I8 and is to determine the periods during which the main electric valve means l3 and II are conductive. To this end the control member 22 of electric valve i8 is energized by two components of control voltage. one I of which varies cyclically at a frequency lower than that of the alternating current source and having a substantially saw-toothed wave form.

The other voltage is a unidirectional voltage opposing the saw-toothed voltage and having a magnitude which may be varied manually or automatically in accordance with some condition to-.be controlled. such as, for example, the

temperature of the load supplied by the main electric valve means I8 and II.

Referring now to Fig. l, the first component of control voltage has a substantially saw-toothed wave form and is produced by the circuit illustrated generally by the numeral 25. A capacitor 55 28 is charged from a suitable source of direct current 21 through a resistor 28. current may be obtained in any suitable manner and may be derived from the alternating current circuit it through suitable rectifying means.

if desired. A series connected reactor 29 and electric valve 80, preferably of the type employing an ionizable medium. are connected across the capacitor 28. The valve 80 is provided with a control member or grid 81. in series with which The direct is connected a suitable current limiting resistor 82. The valve and resistor 28 are connected in circuit so that the resistor 28 is connected between the cathode and control member of the valve to impress a negative voltage on the control member having a magnitude dependent on the magnitude of the condenser charging current. As capacitor 26 charges, the current flowing through the resistor 28 decreases and the control member of the electric valve 80 becomes less negative with respect to the cathode thereof and at some predetermined time in the charging cycle of the condenser 26 the valve 30 becomes conductive and the condenser is immediately discharged through the valve. The reactor 29 cooperates with the condenser to insure that the voltage across the valve is reduced to zero or reversed so that the grid 8| thereof may regain control. This cycle oi operation is repeated automatically at a definite periodicity dependent upon the constants of the elements of circuit 25. I1 desired, a voltage divider 82a may be provided across the direct current source 21 with an adjustable tape 32b connected to the control member 8!. This provides a bias opposing the voltage of resistor 32 and makes it possible to adjust the periodicity of the condenser charging cycle. The wave shape of the voltage appearing across the terminals of capacitor 28 is shown in Fig. 2. by the curve E26.

The voltage impressed between the cathode 2| and control member 22 of electric valve l8 also includes a unidirectional component of voltage appearing across a capacitor 88 which has a ma nitude dependent upon a condition to be controlled and is in a direction opposing the cyclically varying volta e appearing across the terminals of capacitor 26. In the particular embodiment illustrated in F g. l the voltage across the condenser 88 is controlled automatically in accordance with the temperature of the electric furnace I2. The capacitor 88 is connected in series with the anode-cathode circuit of an electric valve 84, preferably of the thermionic or high vacuum type and a source of alternating current voltage compris ng a secondary winding 85 of a transformer 88 having the primary winding 81 thereof energized from the laternating current supply circuit Hi. The valve 84 is provided with a control member or grid 88. A resistor 89 is provided in parallel with the capacitor w en the conductivity of valve 88 c anges. The conductivity of the electric valve 84 is controlled in accordance with a condition to be controlled, such as the temperature of the electric furnace l2 by a bridge circuit illustrated generally by the numeral 40. The bridge circuit includes a source of alternat ng voltage comprising a secondary winding ll of tra sformer 88 across which is connected a resistor 42 and across aportion of which is connected a second resistance 88. A resistor 44 is conne ted between an intermediate point on the resistor l2 and an intermediate point on the res stor 48 by movable contacts 45 and 48. respectively. The contact 45 is manuallv adjustable and t e contact 48 is. in the p rticular arrangement illustrated, moved automatically in response to the temperature of the electric furnace l2 by any suitable means (not shown). With this arrangement it is apparent that after having adjusted the contact 45 the magnitude and direction of the current through resistor 44 will be determined by the position of theautomatically controlled contact 8.

voltage across a portion of resistor Cl is impressed on the primary winding 41 of a transformer 48, the secondary winding 49 of which is connected to energize the control condenser in a direction to render the control member 22 of the firing valve l9 positive so that valve means I 3. A suitable'current limiting resister II is connected in series with the control member 23 of valve l9.

each period designated by the letter T. The voltage across the capacitor 26 increases along the exponential curve E26, having a shape decycle and form another wave. The horizontal dotted condenser 33 corresponding to temperature-'c'f'theload ll.

alternating current circuit l0 Fig. 2 by a timing wave E10. ture is higher than that for variat ons in the The frequency of is illustrated in If the temperawhich the bridge circuit is adjusted the adjustable contact 46 is moved in a direction to vary the conductivity of electric valve 34 in a direction which will increase the magnitude of the voltage 33. For simplification in explanation let it be assumed that the critical voltage 01' the electric valve ll lies along the zero axis. In such a case the valve II will become condu age across condenser 33 andthe voltage across ctive when the voltage across condenser 28 is illustrated in Fig. 4 and the same letters have been used to designate corresponding points of operation. The effect of the change in shape of the saw-toothed wave is simply to change the amount of variation of the duty cycle that will result from a given change in the voltage across the condenser 33.

Although two modifications of the circuit 25 have been shown and described for obtaining a substantially saw-toothed wave oi control voltage one of which increases linearly and one of which increases exponentially, it will be apparent that many other arrangements may be provided and may be adjusted to give any desired rate oi increase of control voltage. For example, the charging current of the capacitor 26 may be controlled by the output of a photoelectric device which is cyclically varied by an obstruction disk of any desired shape.

While we have shown and described particular embodiments oi our invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from our invention, and we therefore aim in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of our invention.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent oi the United States is:

1. In combination. an alternating current supply circuit, a load device having a condition to be controlled, electric translating apparatus interconnec ing said circuit and said device including reversely connected electric valve means having a control member, a control circuit for controlling the energization of said control member for maintaining said load device energized for a predetermined number of cycles or said alternating current circuit and deenergized for a predeter mined number of cycles of said alternating current circuit for a given value of said condition, and means responsive to variations in said condition for varying in opposite directions the number of cycles that said load circuit is energized and deenergized to maintain a predetermined characteristic of said condition.

2. In combination, an alternating current supply circuit, apparatus having a condition to be controlled and including an electric load, electric translating apparatus interconnecting said circuit and said electric load including reversely connected electric valves, a control circuit for controlling the conductivities of said electric wires including means iorrendering said valves conductive for a predetermined number of cycles of said alternating current supply circuit and nonconductive for a predetermined number of cycles of said alternating current supply circuit for a given value of said condition, and means for varying in opposite directions the number of cycles during which saidelectric valves are conductive and non-conductive in response to variations in said condition to maintain a substantially constant value of said condition.

3. In combination, a supply circuit, a load circuit, at least one or said circuits being an alterelectric translating apparatus interconnecting said circuits including electhe energization of said control electrode including means for producing a cyclically varying conthan the ire quency of said alternating current circuit, means for producing a control voltage opposing said first voltage, and means operated in accordance with a condition controlled by the conductivity of said electric valve means to vary said opposing voltage the portion of the cycle of said first-mentioned control voltage during which said electric valve means is conductive to maintain said condition continuously substantially constant.

4. In combination, a supply circuit, a load circuit, at least one of said circuits being an alter nating current circuit, electric translating apparatus interconnecting said circuits including electric valve means having a control electrode associated therewith, a control circuit for controlling the energiza'tion of said control electrode including ineans for producing a cyclically varying control voltage having a periodicity less than the frequency of said alternating current circuit and which varies progressively to a predetermined value and then returns abruptly to its initial value at the end of each cycle of variation, and means for producing a control voltage opposing said first voltage which varies in magnitude in accordance with a condition controlled by the conductivity of said electric valve means to determine the por-- tion of the period oi! said first-mentioned control voltage during which said electric valve means is conductive in accordance with variations in said condition.

5. In combination, an alternating current supply circuit, a load device, electric translating apparatus interconnecting said circuits including electric valve means having a control electrode, a control circuit for controlling the energization of said control electrode including means for producing a cyclically varying unidirectional control voltage which increases progressively to a predetermined value and then is reduced abruptly to its initial value at the end of each cycle of variat on. and means for producing a unidirectional control voltage opposing said first-mentioned unidirectionalvolta e which varies in magnitude in accordance with a cond tion or said load device controlled by the conductivity of said electric valve means to determine the time in the cycle of said first-mentioned control voltage at which said electric valve means becomes conductive and thereby maintain said condition continuously substantially constant, the periodicity of said cyclically varying control potential being less than the frequency of said alternating current circuit.

6. A control system for maintaining a condition of the medium about an electric load substantially constant by effecting intermittent energization of the load comprising in combination, an alternating current supply circuit, an electric load circuit, electric translating apparatus interconnecting said circuits for transmitting alternating current to the load circuit and including reversely con nected electric valve means having a control member, a control circuit for controlling the energization of member for maintaining said load device energized of cycles of said alternating current circuit and deenergized for a predetermined number of cycles of said alternating current circuit for a given value of said condition, and means responsive to variations in said condition for varying in opposite directions the number of cycles that said load circuit is energized and deenergized to maintain a predetermined characteristic of said condition.

'1. A control system for maintaining a condition of the medium about an electric load substantially constant by effecting intermittent energization of the load comprising in combinatrol period, and means responsive to the magnition, an alternating current supply circuit, an tude of said condition for producing a second electric load, electric translating apparatus intercontrol voltage for modifying the energization of a control circuit for impi essing a periodic voltload is energized and the portion of said period age on said control member to establish a conduring which said load is deenergized to mamtrol period means for modifying said periodic tain said condition substantially constant.

voltage to maintain said load energized for a 9 In combination, a supply circuit, a load cirpredetermined number of cycles of said alternatl0 cuit, at least one of said circuits being an altertions in said condition for varying the number of Control e ectrode a cy l ca ly Va y Voltage cycles of said alternating current circuit that ing a periodicity less than the frequency of said said load is energized for each control period alternating current circuit and which varies proto maintain said condition at a predetermined ively to a pr d te mined value nd then value. changes abruptly to its initial value at the end 8. A control system for maintaining a condiof each cycle of v ri i n, mean f r impressin tion of the medium about an electric load subn id ntrol ele rode a v a opp n i stantially constant by efiecting intermittent first voltage, and means for varying the magnieneigization of the load comprising in combinatude of said last voltage in accordance with a electric load, electric translating apparatus interconductivities of said electric a e me to (1&-

connecting said circuit and said load for transtermlne the Portion of the Derlod of d fi t mitting ener therebetween and compnslng an mentioned control voltage during which said elecelectric valve means having a control electrode, tric Valve means 18 Conductlve and e P t n a control circuit for controlling the energization O Sald De d l Whlch ld le tr c Valve of said control electrode including means for promeans i HOIICOIldllCliil/e t0 a ntaln Said conducing a periodic control voltage having a pedition Substantially Constantriodicity less than the frequency of said alternat- HARRY L. PALMER.

ing current supply circuit for establishing a con- ELBERT D. SCHNEIDER.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,56L .,998. December 12, 191414.

HARM L. PALMER, ET AL.

of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2, sec- 0nd column, line 21 for "tape" read --tap--; line 14,8, for nlaternatingn read --a1ternating-; pagel first column, line 55, claim 2, for "wires" the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 20th day of March, A. D. 19LL5.

Leslie Frazer (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

